Surgical procedures have generally become less disruptive to peripheral tissues as surgical techniques have progressed. Traditional surgical procedures used to treat tissues through incisions have often been very disruptive to peripheral tissues. Such procedures may include incisions through the skin, muscles, vessels, nerves, and other tissues, and may include long and deep incisions. Traditional procedures may include retractors that are either larger than is necessary to effectively perform a procedure or that are cumbersome to operated and therefore require longer periods of retraction than is necessary to perform a procedure. Traditional procedures, consequently, may lead to more trauma to peripheral tissues, more pain, and more lengthy and expensive recoveries. Cumbersome equipment that results in longer operating times may also lead to greater hospital, surgical staff, and physician expenses.
Modern surgical instruments and techniques have enabled less invasive and more expedient access to surgical sites. By way of non-limiting example, less invasive surgical instruments and techniques have been used in spinal surgery to separate and progressively dilate and retract tissues rather than to sever and retract the tissues. Developments in less invasive surgical instruments and methods have been significant, but there remains a need for enhancement of instruments and methods. Enhanced instruments and methods may include features that enable one or more of improvements to the efficiency, speed, access capability, or size of an instrument used in one or more methods.
Although particular embodiments of the surgical instruments and methods are described herein in association with particular spinal surgical procedures and surgical approaches, certain instruments and methods may be equally effective in other surgical procedures in the spine or in other areas of the anatomy.